Letterman to Return to TV WITH Writers, Golden Globes May be Cancelled

Is this a sign that the Writers Strike is coming unglued? I don’t know, but news is that David Letterman has struck a deal with the WGA that would allow him and his show to return to the air next week with his writers. For those who have been keeping track, this is the first time writers have been allowed back on TV, with Jay, Conan, and the Daily Show boys returning without their writers.

Late-night TV comedian David Letterman has reached a deal with the union representing striking screenwriters that will let his show return to the air next week with his writing staff, the union said on Friday.

The agreement between the Writers Guild of America and Letterman’s production company, WorldWide Pants, came as doubts grew that one of Hollywood’s premier awards show, the Golden Globes, would go on as usual due to plans by striking writers to picket the event.

A source close to the awards show said the Hollywood Foreign Press Association, which presents the Globes, was considering the possibility of canceling the live TV broadcast of the January 13 event so that the ceremony could proceed without WGA protests.

The whole possibility that the Golden Globes may be cancelled is “blah” to me. I could care less, because I don’t watch them anyway. I barely tune into the Oscars, so you can only imagine my lack of enthusiasm for the Golden Globes, Emmys, etc. If I wanted to watch four hours of rich people patting each other on the back, I would — well, I don’t want to watch that, so nevermind.

I’m also not that big of a late-night TV watcher, so the return of Letterman with his writers is of little interest to me, although the fact that Letterman was able to reach such an agreement does matter in the overall scheme of the strike itself. What does this mean? Is the strike weakening, that they would compromise so quickly into the strike?